He was born in South Haven Michigan in 1911 of German
immigrant parents and studied at the Chicago School
of Sculpture and the Chicago Art Institute.
He worked at numerous jobs in Chicago including the Federal
Art Project
for which he did sculpture commissions for public buildings.
He moved to Austin Texas in 1941 with his family
where he taught for 40 years in the Art Department of the
University of Texas. From 1960 until 1991 he personally
supervised the casting of his sculptures in various founderies
in Italy.

His sculptures are to be found in churches, at numerous public
sites, in museums including the Houston Museum of Fine Arts,
the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C, and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
as well as in many private collections.
In 1985 he and his wife, Angeline Umlauf, gave their
home and studio
with sculptures, drawings and paintings to the
Umlauf Sculpture Garden
and Museum. Charles Umlauf died in 1994. Angeline Umlauf died in 2012.